'Hana Financial Group Strengthens Insurance, Participates in KDB Life Acquisition'

Emerging as a Leading Candidate
Aligned with Non-Bank Strengthening Strategy

Hana Financial Group has entered the bidding for the acquisition of KDB Life Insurance. This move is interpreted as an effort to strengthen the relatively weak insurance sector within the group and increase the contribution from non-bank sectors.

According to industry sources on the 10th, Hana Financial Group submitted a Letter of Intent (LOI) on the 7th, the deadline for the final bid for the sale of KDB Life Insurance. Hana Financial, which did not express interest in the preliminary bid, emerged as a strong candidate by joining the final bid.

Hana Financial's participation in the KDB Life Insurance acquisition aligns with Chairman Ham Young-joo's strategy to strengthen the non-bank sector. When he took office last year, Chairman Ham presented "maximizing strengths and restructuring non-bank businesses" as one of his three key strategies. In this year's New Year's address, he also stated, "We will actively pursue partnerships and investments in non-financial sectors, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in insurance, cards, and asset management, to expand the scope of our business."

Although Hana Financial Group currently owns insurance companies, they are all small to medium-sized firms. Hana Life Insurance's total assets amount to 6.0173 trillion KRW, ranking 19th among 23 life insurers. Hana General Insurance also ranks 11th out of 21 non-life insurers. Acquiring KDB Life Insurance, which has assets worth around 20 trillion KRW, would significantly increase their scale overnight.

If Hana Financial is selected as the preferred bidder, a due diligence process lasting 6 to 7 weeks is expected to follow. During this phase, specific acquisition conditions such as share purchases will likely be finalized. Plans for a capital increase to strengthen KDB Life Insurance's soundness are also anticipated to be discussed.

Meanwhile, 92.73% of the shares held by the Korea Development Bank and Kansas Asset Management are up for sale in this final bid for KDB Life Insurance. The sale is being managed by Samil Accounting Corporation. Cactus PE, Fountainhead PE, and WWG Asset Management, which participated in the preliminary bid, are reported to have withdrawn.

This is already the fifth attempt to sell KDB Life Insurance. Previously, the Korea Development Bank conducted public sales four times?in 2014 twice, 2016, and 2020?but all attempts failed.

KDB Life Headquarters Exterior View

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.